New Football Uniformz Spotted?

Earlier this year, Dave Brandon promised everyone that the football uniforms would remain consistent throughout the year, but that we might see something different for the bowl game. Well, Sam Webb posted a picture of all the recruits in the locker room today (https://twitter.com/SamWebb77/status/280061091344678912/photo/1/large) and if you look closely there is a blue jersey in the back that we have never seen before.

It looks a lot like what we wore for the Alabama game, except obviously a home version. Could this be what we will be seeing in the bowl game?

We got the two or three Block M's; right sleeve, left sleeve (upper right chest?). Then you got a Big Beautiful B1G logo (maybe that's the upper right chest). Then the centered adidas logo. Then the Outback Bowl patch because you just gotta have an Outback Bowl patch and then, DO NOT FORGET BECAUSE WE WILL NEVER FORGET, your standard Legends jersey patch for the dozens of guys who now seem to be fitted with them, maybe another Block M on the back collar if you are one of the guys who can't seem to find an adidas jersey that opponents don't try to throw you down with and what you end up with is... you guessed it...

Seriously; it was bad enough getting keelhauled and molested by Alabama. But to also have prostrated ourselves to the world of Uniform$ at the same time, when they looked like ... Alabama

I kind of hope we wear pink uniforms with golden tassels around the crotch because the reaction on this site would be amazing. Michigan football will continue to be Michigan football regardless of the OMG UNIFORMZ.

Bowl officials count the number of first order maternal relatives of the listed starting lineup for both teams who live in state hosting the bowl. The team with most maternal relatives living in state is the "home" team and gets to decide which Pro Combat uniform their opponent must wear.

If it lands us a few recruits I don't mind a new uniform from time to time since for some reason all recruits seem to love new/non-traditional/multiple uniforms. But, I don't think any of our special uniforms look that good. Also, they don't seem to fit as well as they are often either too big or too small. They just don't seem to be quite as good and I don't think we look good in them, so hopefully the kids take notice and like them.

Even being a national name and one of the original football schools on top of great academics and a sterling reputation aren't enough. We have to dress like bumblebees and old school pirates to get kids to come to our school. We should join the Big East too. We'd fit in there now.

I will say the one I did like was the version with the white pants. I'd love to see a home uniform w/ white pants/blue top as a special uniform one day. That is if we are gonna mess...still not as good as the traditional IMO.

Don't even suggest such a thing. Horrible thought! Out road jerseys have always been pretty iffy but our homes are what make the game memorable and great. There will never be a defensible home alternative, never, no, stop, going postal, god fing damnit quite messing with our traditions.

I agree & would rather never see a non-traditional jersey & probably wouldn't want one at home. But, if we are gonna wear a non-traditional jersey in a bowl game or neutral site game where we are wearing home jerseys that's the scenario I would suggest this in. But, I totally agree that I'd rather see the traditional look if it were up to me.

since we've been seeing alternate uniforms for some games being used, does anyone have any cool designs they would want to share? Maybe with our mgoblogging super powers we can make D-Brandon consider it.. or at least see some cool ideas of what some alt uniforms could look like

edit: with some good photoshopping skillz would be sweet to see what they look like in a picture

Even though I'd rather stick to Michigan's traditional navy uniforms, I don't mind them.

Plus it helps with recruiting. A lot of kids want to switch up their uniforms for something a little every once in awhile... and it could help show other uncommitted guys that Michigan isn't afraid to do that.

They look nice to me. I like the different uniforms because that seems to be something recruits like these days. I realize most people on here don't like anything different, but most of us aren't 17-21 year olds.

How much tradition does Oregon really have? Does anyone see the jerseys they wore before 2000 and have the recognition that top programs have?...They are not on the tradition level Michigan, Alabama, USC, etc. are, they have their own niche and have developed a nice thing for them...Michigan does not have to do that to attract recruits, just like USC and Alabama do not have to do that to attract recruits...it also doesn't help that Michigan's jersey concepts have been only meh at best

Do you think the majority of recruits care about tradition? I'm not totally sure, but I kinda doubt it. Take a traditionally power football program that is down right now versus a less traditional one that is up....like Tennessee vs Oregon. Do you think kids care about the tradition and winning at Tennessee versus the cool newest uniforms at Oregon? I'd also bet Tennessee would trade their traditional uniforms for Oregon's recent success in a heart beat.

I also think if you try to overly hang onto the past it takes away from your ability to adapt to the future. Things change and if you want to stay on top you need to adapt. I don't think UM can sit on it's laurals of the most tradition rich school in the country and expect that to be enough. I love the traditions there, but I think you need a healthy balance. Remember in my original response that I would prefer the original jersey, but if a few changes here and there means we land more recruits and actually start winning conference championships I'm ok with that.

haven't been what you would call elite, in the sense of bringing in top 10 recruiting classes on a consistent basis. For the most part Oregon has been in the 15-25 range. Oregon is at the level they are because they bring in the right type of player for their system, and than do a good job of developing those players. They are not bringing in five star recruits hand over fist by any stretch. The incrediable facilities don't hurt either, and those are mostly likely a bigger deal to recruits.

I think hockeyguy hit the nail on the head, Michigan doesn't need to do this to attract recruits. The tradition, university and brand speak for themselves. It would also be a little different if the concepts were any good, but for the most part they haven't been.

That is the dumbest reasoning in all of these posts. Oregon has been trotting out special uniforms for more than a decade now, yet nobody paid attention to them. You know why? Cause they were still a .500 team. But now that they're had like 8 losses the last 5 years, people are paying attention to them. Winning matters above all else

Maybe just maybe Brandon has what is best for Michigan at heart and realizes die hard fans that post on message boards make up like 5% of the fanbase and the money to remain elite comes from the other 95%. Just a thought.

..mess with the best uniform in college football. Seriously, does "New Coke" ring a bell? You can have the the best of both worlds by leaving the home uniform alone (other than returing to the Braylon Edwards era homes) and then experimenting with the aways. That being said, I still believe they are approaching the variety from the wrong angle. We need to stop focusing on trying to "splash" the jerseys. How about some blue pants with a nice clean white jersey for away games. They can even adopt the Northwestern look with the name across the front in blue on a white jersey with blue pants.....maize trim. Of course, once they don the home uniforms we stay with our traditional look.

But I'll say; I hate whoever thought up this particular mutation of Michigan's iconic "home" maize and blue uniforms; widely regarded as the finest, purest design in the game. And I hate the Athletic Department bean-counters who feel the need to pull stunts like this. And I hate all of the fans who support stunts like this.

I could just leave it at "hate." But instead, I just want to send my sincerest appreciation and best wishes to all who took the time to write how much this concept offends them.

How are all of those 'Bama Kickoff Classic designs working out for everybody? Like a bad hangover, it would seem.

Here's a question: Since it is money that rules (the merchandising of jerseys part); what sort of payoff would it take, from thoughtful alums and other interested traditionalists, to get the Athletic Department to forego this apparent latest-stunt? What's in it, for the Athletic Dpartment? What would it take, bottom line, to change their minds? Everybody's got a price. What is it? Trouble is, the way things are in CFB marketing, they could start to really use that against us. Coming up with ever-more embarassing uniform designs, and holding them out to ransom traditionalism. Like holding a gun to the dog's head. If you don't pay us off, the dog gets it we'll put the team in these dumbass unis...

And when it comes to the Mona Lisa, it's just that enigmatic smile that people really care about. As for the rest of it, we could paint over the background; some cool pattern, like an Escher drawing. Or better yet, one of Dali's two-dimensional alarm clocks dripping off the edge of a table. We could put a bowler on her, or an apple covering her face a la Magritte.

The kids would like it, and we could sell a lot more posters of the juiced-up painting at the Louvre gift shop.

I loved the BLOCK M for last year's UTL. That was awesome and different. But like the poster said above, just changing the color scheme in some way doesn't automatically make it cool. As another poster said, this uniform is one of the standard customs available for most football video games. "Hey, lets change the colors of the shoulders and sleeves!" does not make it creative.

I was not opposed to the changing of the uniforms much but it is starting to bother me. I want to see Michigan play a big game and see the good ol' blue uni's. The Tom Harmon throwback jersey thread yesterday made this even more true to me. Those were f'n incredible. Just blue with the maize number. They were awesome.

If *IF* we go all funky and have a jersey that in non-traditional, then I would prefer to have a jersey that stands out in design beyond simply changing the shoulders. To me, I've to feel that this is the worst combo possible. Keep the traditional uni's more often, but when you do change it, change it to match our tradition (like the Harmon throwbacks), or if that is not going to happen, change the uni's with a purpose and make the design interesting at least - examples would be the UTL block M or taking some cues from Oregon.

Only one was worn at home and every change from traditional came from a special event game other than the inexplicable msu game uniforms. Its not like its just random lets try a new uniform at home vs iowa or something.

Even if the uniformz didn't mess with tradition, and didn't look terrible, you gotta wonder at what point having different uniformz for every game of significance will start doing more harm than good. Doesn't it seem like fewer and fewer people care each time Brandon pulls this special uniform bullcrap?

There is already evidence from the NFL at least that the league is at least somewhat concerned about the sudden infatuation with alternative uniforms harming brand equity for teams, especially if the marketing associated with it is not handled well. That being said, the effects on individual teams vary significantly. In the case of college football, I think it might be similar - there is plenty of evidence that an iconic brand like Michigan resonates strongly with the fanbase and that there is resistance to change in the face of uncertainty (like this photo of yet another alternative jersey), but I dare say, from a marketing standpoint, that Michigan would typically suffer less on the sales end than teams with a smaller potential (and less dedicated) market.

The frightening part, at least in my opinion, might be that the athletic department is well aware of that.

You know what? It is 3:30 AM, I'm mostly drunk at this point, I had a great dinner, and I had a really nice night hanging out with some good friends and seeing a few I haven't seen in awhile. I am not about to read three pages of comments as this has probably been stated before. Please for the love of God don't change the home uniforms. Minor things here and there like a block M, or "Michigan" on the collar are fine. Hell even the B1G on the shoulder is fine by me. Keep the damn home uniforms a blue jersey with maise (whatever your definition of that actually is) pants. I tolerate some change with the away uniforms, but the home ones are kinda sacred if you ask me. We are hopefully making something out of nothing.

Do crappy design uniformz contribute to losing?
I can think of it going both ways: when you go out on the field looking like a fool, your opponent gets a morale boost and your morale is dampened because you know you look like a jackass.

Think of the really bad designs... MSU bumblebee clown and the mustard-on-marshmallow puff for the Alabama game. I know i would be embarrassed to wear these, and would get a kick of plowing someone wearing such a silly looking getup into the ground (if i were able, obvs)

adidas sucks, I have been disappointed with just about everything they've done since Michigan pick them up. Except the bright maize, love it. If you're going to make a crappy alternate uniform make that son of a bitch stand out. Nike has made a living off of that and I believe they're alternates have just looked better. Don't have Michigan wear a uniform style that Michigan State wears on a weekly basis. That's not thinking outside of the box.